commonly regarded as frivolous entertainment rather than as a genuine
art form. But Sartre had something of importance to say on a subject that
had fascinated him since childhood, and he said it.^2
The movies without apologies
As early as 1924 , while still a student, Sartre had composed an “Apologie
pour la cine ́ma” (EJ 388 – 404 ). He defended the union of image and
motion in an art form that contradicted Alain’s proclamation that “noth-
ing is beautiful but the immobile.” Sartre sided with Bergson in this
regard; indeed, the latter’s philosophy seemed to welcome the speed, the
fluidity, and the energy of the motion picture. It shared the dynamic
unity of the melody – a favorite analogy of Bergson’s that captures
duration and mobility. The young student rose to the heights of his
synthesis when he concluded, “The film is the poem of modern life” (EJ
392 ) – it revives the metaphors of contemporary life and gives us a sense
of the whole (l’ensemble). Against those who argue that only the natural is
beautiful, Sartre responded that cinema builds the artificial on the True:
what we go to see has the charm of the irreal (EJ 398 ). Toward the end of
the piece, the 19 -year-old author gave a half-bow toward the surrealists,
who held considerable interest for him and his friends in the 1920 s.
“Caligari” escaped the excess of surrealist art, but much of German film,
Sartre believed, was spoiled by the association. Finally, he addressed
those who criticized the cinematic art on ethical grounds for corrupting
the youth – which, of course, placed it in distinguished philosophic
company. The very popularity of film, its anti-elitist spirit that even as
(^2) Sartre maintained a life-long interest in the fine arts. In a letter to Beauvoir, he commented on
developing a “complicated theory about the function of the image in the arts” and on thinking
of developing a complete system of aesthetics based on cinematic art (seeLaCi: 27 ). Aside
from literary and theatrical productions, his interest in the visual and plastic arts was broad,
including insightful essays on masters as varied as Titian and Tintoretto up to studies of
Mason, Giacometti and Calder, who were personal acquaintances. Calder’s mobiles, in
Sartre’s assessment, managed to exist “halfway between matter and life,” while Giacometti
confers “absolute distance on his [sculptured] images just as a painter confers absolute
distance on the inhabitants of his canvas.” With the exception of a preface to Rene ́Leibow-
itz’sThe Artist and His Conscience, Sartre wrote little about music or musicians, though he
played duets with his mother and gave piano lessons while at the ENS. Though he preferred
the classics, he was familiar with contemporary symphonic music. And he was an avid fan of
American jazz.
48 Teaching in the lyce ́e, 1931–1939